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After the penalty shootout, London defeated their eternal rivals with a score of 5:4 and won the FA Cup for the tenth time in their history. This was the first final since 1912 in which neither team managed to score a goal during the main or extra time.
Arsene Wenger's team created no chances to score during the 90 minutes of regular time and the 30 minutes of extra time, while Manchester United controlled the ball and created opportunities.
Nine out of ten penalties were successfully converted. The only missed penalty was taken by Paul Scholes, whose shot was saved by Arsenal's goalkeeper Jens Lehmann, who had an excellent game throughout.
The captain of Arsenal, Patrick Vieira, scored the final penalty, although Roy Carroll guessed the right direction but couldn't save the shot.
During the regular time of the match, Manchester United created enough chances for several games, but they failed to convert them.
Arsenal, missing their league's top scorer, played unusually defensive with a 4-5-1 formation with just Dennis Bergkamp upfront.
Manchester United had their first opportunity in the sixth minute, when a cross found Paul Scholes accurately, but his header went over the bar.
Arsenal tried to keep possession in the middle of the field, but United looked more dangerous and could have been leading by at least 3-0 before halftime.
Rio Ferdinand thought he scored a goal when he replicated W. Rooney's shot from outside the box, but the referee disallowed it as the United player was offside.
In the second half, the Arsenal team was saved from conceding twice by the woodwork - first, a shot deflected off the goalkeeper's hands onto the post, and later Fredrik Ljungberg cleared a header from Ruud van Nistelrooy off the goal line.
In extra time, Ferguson's men unsuccessfully demanded a penalty when the ball hit the hands of Arsenal defenders twice, but the referee did not notice these incidents.
Jose Antonio Reyes became the second player in FA Cup final history to be sent off the field. The Spaniard received his second yellow card just before the end of the match.
Wayne Rooney was named the best player of the match before the penalty shootout.
Over 70,000 spectators watched the match at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium.
